Poor drainage on Third Street and several hazardous trees were just two of the issues that members of the South Waverly Borough Council discussed during Monday’s meeting.
                                                                Third Street drainage
    The concerns about the poor drainage on Third Street were raised to the council by a resident who lives on that road.
    “When we get a torrential rain there could be more than a foot of water in any few locations down there,” said the resident. “There is just no place for the water to go.”
    A drywell is located on the roadway, but the only way that it could keep up with a torrential downpour would be to install a pump that could pump the storm water up to Pitney Street, where it could disburse, said Councilman Ed Cocco.
    The only other alternative would be to raise the entirety of Third Street, which would improve the drainage there, Cocco added.
    “That would cost a lot of money,” he said.
    Borough officials are currently looking at the infrastructure of the municipality, including the conditions of the borough’s roads, said Council President Roxanne Stevens-Testen.
    She added that the borough will add the drainage situation on Third Street to that list.
                                                                        Hazardous trees
    The council also moved forward with plans to take care of several hazardous trees.
    The borough recently engaged the services of Jim Lacek, a consultant for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation of Natural Resources, to conduct a survey of what may be dangerous trees within particular areas of the borough.
    That report, which was discussed at Monday’s meeting, identified specific trees on North Pennsylvania Avenue, Howard Street, Douglas Avenue and Pleasant Street as dangerous trees that need to be addressed.
    The report also identified specific trees on Walker Street and Division Street, but those trees have already been addressed, said Stevens-Testen.
    Now Borough Solicitor Jonathan Foster will send letters to those residences that have these dangerous trees advising them that they have a certain amount of time to trim them — or in some cases, remove them.
    If the residents fail to take any action on these trees within the specific time frame, the borough can have the work contracted out and then place liens on the properties in order to recoup its costs, said Foster.
    However, borough council members felt that the list compiled by Lacek was incomplete, as there are other areas in the municipality that have dangerous trees.
    Therefore, council members will tour the borough and, based on their observations, develop an additional list of trees deemed hazardous. That additional list will be presented to the full board in the coming weeks for its review.
    The next meeting of the South Waverly Borough Council will be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 4 at the borough hall on Pennsylvania Avenue. The public is invited to attend.
    ———
    Warren Howeler can be reached at whoweler@morning-times.com.